I've been reading the posts for years and only after Andy's defeat by Chardy decided I had to join the forum in order to have my say re "Dismal Murray". As an antidote to Andy's detractors and prophets of doom sit down and watch the Olympic final again, as I did last night . He was absolutely brilliant and his talent has not suddenly disappeared so get a grip and look forward to the US open. I will support Andy as long as he can hold a tennis raquet and I can get up in the middle of the night to watch dodgy streams etc. Onwards and upwards Andy.

I'm glad it wasn't just me who watched it again, and Amen to everything else you said. Great post.

I wasn't totally concerned about Andy's loss to Chardy; nor even to the manor of the loss.

What concerned me more was that Andy's magnificent Olympic Gold win was supposed to be the start of AM's undefeated year comparable to Djokovic's fabulous undefeated run of 48 (?) successive wins.

Added to that many posts had excused Andy's performance owing to tiredness. What about Federer, Djokovic and to a lesser extent Del Potro? The first two had played as many games as Andy and are now about to contest the Cincinnati final.

I don't think Andy was dismal, more that his confidence as shown in the Olympics had quickly deserted him.

Btw, madabouttheboy a great warm welcome and astutely observed first post.

I wasn't totally concerned about Andy's loss to Chardy; nor even to the manor of the loss.

What concerned me more was that Andy's magnificent Olympic Gold win was supposed to be the start of AM's undefeated year comparable to Djokovic's fabulous undefeated run of 48 (?) successive wins.

Added to that many posts had excused Andy's performance owing to tiredness. What about Federer, Djokovic and to a lesser extent Del Potro? The first two had played as many games as Andy and are now about to contest the Cincinnati final.

I don't think Andy was dismal, more that his confidence as shown in the Olympics had quickly deserted him.

Btw, madabouttheboy a great warm welcome and astutely observed first post.

Well I think we were talking more about mental tiredness following the olympics/wimbledon, which put more pressure on Andy than other players I'd say. On top of which he said he'd hardly slept for nights when he arrived in Canada. This could just have been the comedown from the Olympian heights so that he may not have been feeling great. And if that is the case I don't think it reflected loss of confidence or will affect his confidence going into USO. It was probably more important for his confidence that he beat Querrey so easily. And I think alot of the talk about physical tiredness has been more about being concerned that Andy isn't tired for USO itself which he has been sometimes in the past when he's done well in US hard court season. That's a punishing 2 weeks on the hard courts in NY especially after the heat of Cinci.

I am shaking my head in disbelief at all these posts saying he has no reason to be tired, the others have played more matches etc. if you go back to the press conference after he had beaten Tsonga to get into the Winbledon final, when he had broken a 74 year drought. He could barely string his words together. I personally wasn't that surprised he eventually lost the final. He then had to deal with all that emotion, pick himself up and once again return to the scene of the crime to try again. Which he pulled off in stunning style. The adrenalin rush must have been horrific for him. With all due respect to Saint Fed and Saint Novak, they are used to winning the really big occasions, Murray isn't. This was his first, and suddenly getting what he has wanted for so long, must have also completely loused up his emotions - good as it was. He said himself on his press conferences, that he hadn't expected to do it.

He might well lose some points over the next few months. If he does, he does. He will pick them up again next year. I really hope he takes the US Open by storm, but I am prepared for that not happening. I think he is a far more complex character than the others, hence his reactions are going to be more complex. What I firmly believe has changed is the fact he now knows he can beat the best back to back, in a five set major tournament. We will see the result of that belief at a tennis court near you soon. Meanwhile can people stop being so doom laden and critical and remember we are supporting a human being, with all the fallibility and insecurities that that can entail. If you want the machines, then as I have said before, then go and support them. Two of them are playing in the final this afternoon. Savour Mr M for what he is, and for goodness sake stop trying to change him into something he is not, never will be, and probably can't ever be. Gr......!!!

I wasn't totally concerned about Andy's loss to Chardy; nor even to the manor of the loss.What concerned me more was that Andy's magnificent Olympic Gold win was supposed to be the start of AM's undefeated year comparable to Djokovic's fabulous undefeated run of 48 (?) successive wins.

Added to that many posts had excused Andy's performance owing to tiredness. What about Federer, Djokovic and to a lesser extent Del Potro? The first two had played as many games as Andy and are now about to contest the Cincinnati final.

I don't think Andy was dismal, more that his confidence as shown in the Olympics had quickly deserted him.

Btw, madabouttheboy a great warm welcome and astutely observed first post.

Sorry OSS, but that was probably your own expectation of him. When it comes to mindset, both Noel and Andy are two different players and when Nole went to set that undefeated run of 48 in 2011, he already had a Slam in the bag, so it was easy for him to do it. In fact, same expectations were set for Nole back on those days after his big AO win, especially when he went on to beat Federer in the semi with ease, but he was unable to win another Slam let alone make any noise until 2011. And I wouldn't want Andy to go on similar journey as Nole last year, simply because it might just be short lived and career ending. It would have to be a wise move and a calculative one. Once Andy establishes the solid and firm foundation, he can very well go and set different sets of goals for himself. Right now, it's just one goal and that is to win his first Slam.

If I wanted to support a "robotic" type player, then I would support the likes of Djoko or Fed, going out beating all put in front of them, Djoko celebrating in his "Incredible Hulk" fashion and Fed with his arrogance. I choose to support Andy cos he is a real guy, normal, down to earth, humble with sincere humility. He is in the category of flawed genius, cos when his tennis is on then he is unbeatable, but he is human and that is what I like about him, he does not put himself in an ivory tower of tennis he is real and out there. What that guy has had to endure in the past few years is unbelievable, he ran a gauntlet of hatred after an innocent remark about his nationality, he has people continually dissecting his personal and sporting life, making inaccurate assumptions about his character. He is the only British tennis player who is playing at the cutting edge day in and day out, Wimbledon is when he is under a microscope, this year that continued with the Olympics, so he had four weeks of intense scrutiny. He won himself an army of fans after his Wimby defeat due to people finally reaslising "this guy really cares about his sport". He then completed a magnificent gold and silver double, had about 5 mins to celebrate before it was back to the ATP tour. Supporting Andy can be a roller coaster ride but hey Andy's life must be like continually going on the Pepsi Max ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach!!Taking all this into account I think he has done bloody brilliant to still be standing, let alone performing at the level of excellence that he does. He lost a match, mental fatigue and come down can be brutal and often masquerading in physical debilitation. We need to cut this young man a serious length of slack and trust him to perform well at the USO. We know he can do it, it really is a matter now of when not if and if we do need to wait until the AO then so be it, I will be there with my Murraytastic t-shirt ready to take the highs with the lows.

I am NOT attacking Andy. I am just making a personal observation. I do not EVER want or expect Andy to be a version of either Federer or Djokovic. Arrogance and jungle-apelike chest-thumping will never be Andy's style.

MM, I agree that Andy is a sincere and most humble individual and long may he retain his G-d given abilities and attitudes.

Once again Murray Magic, takes what I was trying to say and expresses it in a far better way than me. Yes it is a surprise to me he is still on his feet at the moment. The Olympics so far seem to have finished, Tsonga, Ferrer and Berdych off as well. At least Mr M, has a gold and silver medal to console him for losing to Chardy. Btw if anyone really wants cheering up re- watch the Olympic Final focussing on the looks on Fed's face throughout the match. They are a complete joy.

Many thanks for the great welcome. Think you should call me Mad for short, most people do.The other day I had a letter from the U.K. bearing the lovely Andy gold medal stamp . I had 3 more inside the letter so if anyone would like one let me know.Yes, the look on Fed's face was priceless. I enjoyed it almost as much as Andy's leap of joy on centre court.

Many thanks for the great welcome. Think you should call me Mad for short, most people do.The other day I had a letter from the U.K. bearing the lovely Andy gold medal stamp . I had 3 more inside the letter so if anyone would like one let me know.Yes, the look on Fed's face was priceless. I enjoyed it almost as much as Andy's leap of joy on centre court.

that's very kind of you Mad. You'll find on the postbox thread that some of us are getting v impatient having ordered the 1st day covers and still not received them!Oh and MM once again your post is just great, though I accept OSS that you were not attacking Andy. However I agree with EJ about the sentence she highlighted in bold and remembered I'd meant to pick that up in my original reply to you. I can't recall anyone on MW saying he was going to repeat Nole's extraordinary run last year. It's true some have said now is his time and some comms have speculated the same but that's not quite the same and isn't necessarily inconsistent with one poor on the rebound result. I agree that the kind of run Nole had last year creates its own problems.

I have to be honest, it didn't occur to me that Andy would go on an undefeated run like Djokovic on the back of the Olympics win, not immediately anyway. I'm not even sure he needs to. I think Andy's primary concern at the moment is attempting to win majors, getting that first one in the bag, not trying to replicate something he doesn't need to do, at least not yet.

What does interest me is that some of us suggesting Andy went in to Toronto and Cincy tired is seen as making excuses for him. Do we need to make excuses for him, seriously? I can't believe I'm saying this here, and excuse me for doing it as a relative newbie, but I'm going to do it anyway. Andy has 23 singles titles, 8 of those are Masters titles. He has been to four major finals and something like 10 major semi-finals. Andy is the most successful British tennis player of the modern era, and he has just won the Olympic Singles Gold medal. I don't think he needs excuses made for what was patently obviously just one of those days.

I don't think it is possible to over estimate the pressure Andy is under to do well in his own country. Let me put that in context. If Andy wins the USO next month we, as Andy's fans, will think it is wonderful. I'm sure he will be pretty delighted too. However, it won't take long for someone to open their mouth, maybe even several someones, and some of them will even know about tennis, and say something along the lines of 'Well yes, but he didn't win Wimbledon, did he?' or 'Well he'll never win another one, Wimbledon is the peak', blah, blah, blah. That is the sort of expectation Andy has to deal with, not just that he will never be seen as good enough in some eyes until he wins ANY major, but that he will be seen as somehow less until he wins Wimbledon. Even after his Olympics success there were some saying that he hadn't won Wimbledon 'proper', as if that took away from what he HAD done, which was to win the first British singles gold medal in 104 years. Mind you, I bet Josiah Ritchie didn't have to beat Roger Federer to win it....although........

As much as others put pressure on Andy to do well, and I have to say I think he copes with that so well, it is also obvious that he puts a lot on himself. His reactions when he got through Ferrer and Tsonga at Wimbledon were clearly not those of a man showboating for the camera's, or of a man who was taking anything for granted. The same could be said when he got through Baghdatis and Djokovic at the Olympics. Going back to Wimbledon, in retrospect it strikes me as funny in a way that some thought Nadal going out would help Andy, or maybe take some pressure off him. I'm now inclined to think it could have added pressure in a sense. Had he lost to Nadal again it would have been seen, probably, as just one of those things. Had he lost to Tsonga, especially given his head to head record......It doesn't even bear thinking about.

What I've tried to say in my usual long-winded way (I just felt it was important to say what I think is meant by pressure, because in Andy's case it isn't just the matches) is that Andy took all those expectations, external and internal, plus he had to recover quickly from losing to Federer in the Championships, and he came through. That is an incredible achievement, but it must have taken a lot out of him. Looking at him in Toronto, I would say he looked almost out on his feet, and it didn't surprise me at all, not after all he had done, plus media committments, lack of sleep, jet lag, etc. What did surprise me, and impress me no end, was that he won a round, not because his opponent was particularly good, but because Andy looked done. It impressed me even more that he went to Cincy, took the match to Querrey and came through. I had hoped he would pull it off against Chardy, but after a good start it became obvious that it was one match too far for now. Andy was clearly fed up with himself for the loss, which I think is actually a good sign. The day Andy doesn't care about losing a match will be the day I start worrying. However, the question I think we should be asking is could Chardy pull that off with a bright, alert, fully flowing Andy, i.e. like he was at Wimbledon and the Olympics, or in a best of five set match? Personally I think not, which is why I am disappointed for Andy, but definitely not disappointed WITH Andy, and why I believe that good things are still to come.

Well said teejay, my sentiments exactly. My family in the UK asked if we were going to Toronto to see him play and I replied that I didn't expect him to play there or Cincy for more than a round or two.I heard or read somewhere about many Olympic medalists who are having trouble in motivating themselves after the games, understandably so. I don't expect a great run in Flushing meadows but will be thrilled if I'm proved wrong. Shame as it's the same time zone for once but I think it will be Oz for his first slam.